wayward's blog

Via today's N-G (http://www.news-gazette.com/blogs/take-care/2010-02/screening-we-dread.html), March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.  Most of us have seen the pink breast cancer awareness ribbons, but colon cancer isn't a popular conversation topic.  However, colon cancer is the second largest cancer killer in the U.S., after lung. For women, it's third, after lung and breast. Ironically, if it's caught early, the survival rate is 90%.

When my mom was 47, she was diagnosed with early-stage colon cancer.  She had surgery and chemo and is now fine.  Because that's considered a risk factor for me, I had to start getting screened five years ago and go back every five years.  Surprisingly, colonoscopy was a lot easier than I expected.  The day before was a little annoying because I had to stick to a clear liquid diet and swallow three ounces of Phospho-soda.  The stuff .... worked.  And worked.  And worked.  The next day when I got to the hospital, they told me that the worst part was already over.  They took me into this dimly-lit room with lots of electronic equipment, and the nurse anesthetist started the drugs flowing into my IV.  The next thing I remember, I was being wheeled out of the room and realized that it must be over.  Everything was fine, and my mom was very relieved.

When we think of cancer, we think of something growing very fast. But that's not how colon cancer starts. In fact, it often doesn't start as cancer at all, but as something called a polyp that develops very slowly. The problem with polyps is that they can turn malignant. So if you have a polyp, the best thing that can happen is for a doctor to take it out before it turns into cancer.  There are some things that people can do to reduce their risk of colon cancer, like eating carefully, exercising, not smoking, and getting screened when they need to. Most people have to start when they're 50 and go every 10 years.  So it's not really that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, and it can save your life.

Via the N-G yesterday (http://www.news-gazette.com/news/politics-and-government/2010-02-21/local-representatives-try-lead-way-some-issues.html)

State Rep. Shane Cultra, R-Onarga, has a bill to restore corporal punishment in Illinois public schools, although he said he is amending the bill to restrict a school district's liability in the event of a lawsuit by parents.

"I do a lot of legislation that doesn't go anywhere and this is probably one of them," Cultra said. "But I see a lot of problems in the schools. They just don't have control in the classrooms. If you could just start it at the lower grades and the kids knew there was some kind of punishment involved, maybe a teacher could get control of the classroom and the kids could learn."

The success of his corporal punishment bill, Cultra said, will depend on whether it is supported by teachers' unions. "If they don't like it, it won't go anywhere," he said.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find this appalling?

Via the Trib (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/12/draft-memo-details-moving-terror-suspects-to-thomson.html)

Although White House officials say there is no final decision, a government memo leaked today indicates preparations have been made for the U.S. to move forward with plans to buy an Illinois prison and use it to house suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The one-page memo surfaced on the Web site, biggovernment.com, which features conservative thought and opinion.

In an email to the Tribune, an administration official termed the memo a "predecisional" document that lawyers at various agencies were drafting in preparation for a potential announcement.

Drafts of official documents often are prepared for any and all possibilities, regardless of whether a decision has been made about the policy or if the document will be used, the official said.

Rep. Tim Johnson is opposed to the proposed move, saying that it would expose Illinois to a "terrorist threat."  (http://will.illinois.edu/news/spotstory/urbana-congressman-opposes-transfer-of-guantanamo-detainees-to-thomson-pris/)  What concerns me a little is the relative proximity to the Blackwater/Xe site in northwestern Illinois (see map below).

Via the N-G (http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/12/08/states_attorney_shooting_was_accident_no_charges)

URBANA – Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz has concluded that the shooting of a Champaign teen by a police officer in October was an accident and that no criminal charges will be filed against Officer Daniel Norbits.

Rietz this morning released her own 13-page summary of the Illinois State Police investigation into the Oct. 9 shooting death of Kiwane Carrington, 15, and the arrest of his friend, Jeshaun Manning-Carter, 16, also of Champaign.

The shooting occurred in the back yard of 906 W. Vine St., C, at a home where Mr. Carrington spent a lot of time with the son of the resident.

The Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) is on strike at UI.  The N-G has a story at http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/11/16/geo_strikes_ui_says_few_problems_so_far .  The GEO's website with their perspective is at http://www.uigeo.org/ . Out-of-state tuition waivers are a big issue, and there may also be a possibility of raising the minimum assistantship necessary to receive a waiver (currently 25%).

As far as the strike, I'm guessing that the level of participation will vary by department.  IIRC, the turnout for the strike vote was about 25% of represented employees, and of the ones that showed up to vote, 92% voted to authorize a strike.  At this point, neither UI nor the GEO is getting nasty.  UI plans to withold pay for time not worked, but it won't go after this semester's tuition waivers for participants.  Some unions have clauses allowing them to fine members who work during strikes (and courts have allowed them to collect even if a member resigns afterward), but the GEO does not.

Thoughts?

Jimmy John's is being sued because they allegedly messed up the order for a sandwich in Champaign and a customer went into anaphylactic shock.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/10/jimmy-johns-sued-over-a-turkey-tom-sandwich.html

I got a call this evening, which the caller ID showed to be coming from the Champaign Police Department.  It was someone soliciting donations for what was apparently a police-related nonprofit.  I got one or two similar calls last month from what appeared to be the CPD (217-356-7093).

Not that I have anything against the FOP or police lodges, but is it a good idea to use police department phones for solicitation?  I'm almost at the point where I've learned not to answer calls from the police department, and I'd assume others may be having the same reaction.

Channel 3 also had a story on the controversy related to the tent city outside the Catholic Worker House in Champaign.  You can see the video at http://illinoishomepage.net/content/fulltext/?cid=92711 .  They interviewed a homeless guy named Joe Stockett, who coincidentally happens to be a suspect in a fire that destroyed a Holocaust museum in Terre Haute and also has a history of hate and arson.  http://www.judaica.org/CANDLES/indystar2.pdf .  It's not hard to find some of his rants if you look for them - he's posted as "burnisraeliflag@yahoo.com" and "hippiejoelives@yahoo.com."  He's sprayed some Indymedia sites and also posted to groups like "Jew Watch."  He did get taken offline for a while a couple of years ago when he got incarcerated for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

OK, any guesses WHY the neighbors might be uneasy about someone like this camping near their house?  Sheesh.

The first story about clout and UI admissions is up: http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/05/tribune-investigation-clout-list-at-u-of-i.html

At a time when it's more competitive than ever to get into the University of Illinois, some students with subpar academic records are being admitted after interference from state lawmakers and university trustees, a Tribune investigation has revealed.

Hundreds of applicants received special consideration in the last five years, according to documents obtained by the Tribune under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

The records chronicle a shadow admissions system in which some students won spots at the state's most prestigious public university over the protests of admissions officers, while others had their rejections reversed during an unadvertised appeal process.

Update: it's now a regular Trib story at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-college-clout-29-may29,0,2769925.story

Via the N-G (http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/05/11/court-watch_report_minorities_underrepresented_on_juries):

Fewer minorities than expected responded to calls for jury duty in Champaign County last year, a trend that is in at least its fifth year.

Non-whites responding to jury duty summonses in Champaign County were statistically under-represented, according to an annual court-watch program.

The report on the fifth year of the Champaign County Court-watching Project, conducted by the League of Women Voters and the University of Illinois College of Law trial advocacy program, was presented Monday .

For the year, a total of 25 minority men and women were in the jury pools. Statistically, there would have been 68, according to the study.

For white men and women, there were 298 in the jury pools, while it would have been statistically expected to have 252, based on the county’s population.

When I had jury duty, there were a lot of middle-class professional types and retirees - in other words, people who could afford to be there.  It seems like this may be at least partially an economic thing.

In 1995, Alan Beaman was convicted of the murder of an ISU student named Jennifer Lockmiller and sentenced to 50 years in prison.  I followed the case closely, partly because Alan's brother was a friend of a friend, and also because the case itself was so strange.  The problem was that Alan Beaman had been in Rockford the day of the murder, which is about 135 miles from Bloomington.  It was true that Beaman and Lockmiller had been romantically involved, but the case didn't seem to have much else in the way of witnesses or evidence.  Nonetheless, he was convicted.

After he'd spent thirteen years in prison, the Illinois Supreme Court threw out his conviction.  It turned out that the prosecutor, a man named James Souk, had withheld evidence from the defense about another suspect in the killings.  The Supreme Court noted that the case against Beaman was thin, which may be why the McLean County State's Attorney's office decided to dismiss the charges in January this year instead of pursuing a new trial.  Beaman's court records were expunged earlier this month. (http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2009/01/29/news/doc4981e805cbd27366667537.txt)

James Souk, now a judge, made the news for a different reason this spring.  Michael Connolly had been a troubled guy, and there was a standing order from another county that visits with his sons be supervised.  Souk decided to grant unsupervised visitation, and Connolly killed himself and both his sons.  According to someone on IReport, Judge Souk has some trouble staying awake on the job. (http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-235548)

The mother of the murdered boys has filed a complaint and asked that state justices investigate Souk.

Tonight was the Champaign County Dems Central Committee meeting.  Last week, I got one call from HQ saying that there was going to be a vote for party chair.  Then there was another call saying that there wouldn't be, and we'd only be voting on the first vice chair.  After that, there were some less formal messages indicating that there might be a vote after all.  This didn't exactly seem auspicious.

So it shouldn't have been surprising that the meeting was packed so tightly that even standing room space was at a premium.  There was some debates about points of order, and one person moved that Al Klein be voted chair until Tony Fabri's term would have expired (some time in 2010, IIRC).  After a couple of votes, this passed.  I'd actually voted to open it up to an election but was a little relieved we didn't have to sit there for hours packed in like sardines listening to candidates talk.  Other people's reactions varied, and some were pretty upset.

A few people left after that, including this strange guy carrying a sign that might have been an attack on Tony Fabri (but it was hard to tell).  Most stuck around for the next order of business, which was electing the first vice chair.  Originally, Laurel Prussing was apparently going to be the only candidate, but then a couple of other people decided to run too.  Eric Thorsland had a great speech - it was very brief, and he concluded by saying that if voted for him, that'd be great, and if they didn't, he wouldn't get too upset.  Prussing won, and her victory speech was a motion to adjourn.  This made me like her more.

WILL has a reading of the Gettysburg address by a number of people in C-U, including local blogger GNightgirl.  It's very moving.

http://www.conferences.uiuc.edu/bythepeople/Video%20Clips/1863-GettysburgQT-arial_BY%20the%20People%20H264.mov

Via the Trib ....http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04/blagojevich-indicted-corruption-illinois-governor-impeach.html

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, his brother Rob and Christopher Kelly, a former top fundraiser for Blagojevich, were all indicted today on corruption charges, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago announced.

Also charged in the indictment were Lon Monk, a lobbyist and former Blagojevich chief of staff; John Harris, also a former chief of staff to Blagojevich; and William Cellini, a Springfield insider for decades.

The indictment comes four months after Blagojevich was arrested and charged with engaging in pay-to-play politics in a sweeping federal complaint that accused him of trading state jobs, contracts and regulatory favors for campaign contributions.

The criminal complaint charged Blagojevich with attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama and seeking the firing of Tribune editorial writers in return for state help on the sale of Wrigley Field. The ballpark and newspaper are owned by Tribune Co.

The state has a contract with Pepsi apparently giving it exclusive rights on university campuses and in state facilities. Link: http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/03/audit-questions-rod-blagojevichs-no-coke-pepsi-contract.html

State auditors said today they had so many unanswered questions about how former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration awarded Pepsi an exclusive contract to dispense soft drinks at all state facilities that they couldn’t tell whether state government got a good deal.

Auditor General William Holland said so many details were lacking about how the state Revenue Department conducted its review of proposals by Pepsi and Coke that auditors were “unable to conclude whether or not this procurement was in the state’s best interests.”

The exclusive soft-drink contract was the brainchild of a Blagojevich administration initiative headed out of a governor’s office that was constantly looking for ways to bring in new state revenue. Pepsi projected it could provide the state nearly $6 million a year in the 10-year deal of being the sole provider for beverages at state facilities and at the University of Illinois system.

Via the News-Gazette, there's a big power outage in Champaign County that's affecting almost all of campus.  As a result, most university websites are down.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/03/08/thousands_in_champaign_county_at_ui_without_power

I was just at Urbana Schnucks, and was surprised by how mobbed it was.

The Trib has a story about Illinois finances at http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-illinois-finances-0302-mar02,0,3727667.story

Illinois is on the verge of a financial meltdown, and hard choices will be necessary to contain the economic damage, according to a report from a group of prominent businesses executives.

The report, to be released Monday by the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago, paints an even darker picture of the state's finances than in late 2006, when the group calculated that the funding shortfall amounted to $106 billion, or $8,800 for each of Illinois' 12 million residents.

Unfunded debts total more than $116 billion, or $10,000 per resident, the group estimates, and the sum could increase by as much as $10 billion annually.

The updated report isn't so much a case of "I told you so" as it is a renewed call to action, committee members said. Recent events, including former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's alleged pay-to-play politics and the economy's two-year downward spiral, have made the situation more precarious, but the roots of the problem go deeper.

Via the N-G (http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/01/27/fourth_mayoral_candidate_emerges_in_urbana)

An Urbana attorney, musician and local blog writer has filed to run for mayor as an independent, bringing to four the number of mayoral candidates on the April 7 ballot.

Rob McColley, 37, 503 W. Illinois St., filed candidacy petitions Monday with the city clerk's office, the last day that independent candidates could apply for city office. He joins incumbent Mayor Laurel Prussing, a Democrat; Rex Bradfield, a Republican; and Durl Kruse, a Green Party candidate, on the ballot. 

McColley writes occasionally for a local Web site, www.smilepolitely.com.

Should be an interesting race.

There's an interesting article in the Springfield State Journal-Register where some mental health professionals discuss Blago's behavior in the context of narcissistic personality disorder.

http://www.sj-r.com/news/x716054539/Blagojevich-not-crazy-experts-say

He quotes poets at press conferences, but seldom takes questions. Reporters have seen him grab cell phones from complete strangers, interrupting conversations to say, “Hi, this is the governor.” When lawmakers unanimously reject his proposal to tax businesses, he says that’s a vote of confidence.

Is Gov. Rod Blagojevich crazy?

The answer: Not exactly, according to experts in mental and personality disorders. But that doesn’t mean Blagojevich qualifies as normal.

“I’m not sure the question is about (mental) stability,” says Dr. Joe Bohlen, a Springfield psychiatrist. “It may be more about personality.”

Two years ago, Blagojevich famously implored voters to ask what his election rival was thinking, and short of putting the governor on a couch, it’s impossible to say what’s in his head. But from what he’s heard, seen and read, Bohlen and others say they believe Blagojevich may have a narcissistic personality disorder.

The Chicago Sun-Times has an interesting memo from Bob Arya, a former senior staffer for Blagojevich.

http://media.suntimes.com/images/cds/pdf/blagojevichmemo.pdf

There's a related article here: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/1368377,bob-arya-memo-impeach-panel-blagojevich-010809.article

When former Chicago television broadcaster Bob Arya joined Gov. Blagojevich's staff as a senior advisor in November 2006, the governor described him as “a real asset to my administration.”

But when Arya's run with Blagojevich came to an end, he had a story to tell — one of intense jealousies by the governor toward President-elect Barack Obama, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and others, a terrorized staff, and emotional instabilities that Arya said demonstrate the need for a psychological evaluation by the legislative panel weighing the governor's impeachment.

Not long after Arya assumed his $114,000-a-year position, Blagojevich confided in him his desire to one day reach the White House. When corruption allegations prevented that from happening, the governor's disdain for Obama seemed to grow.

“Rod dislikes Barack Obama because Barack is living the life Rod envisioned for himself,” Arya wrote in a nine-page memo he has shared with the House impeachment panel.